This invention relates generally to plumbers' tools and more specifically to devices for installing and uninstalling water meters, shutoff valves, and other plumbing parts associated with water meters.
Installing and uninstalling water meters is a common task in plumbing. After many years of use, the meters often need to be removed, fixed, and reinstalled. In other cases, a water company will issue a new water meter model to replace a group of water meters. In addition, the shutoff valve, which is usually made of a soft metal such as copper or brass, has parts such as ears that are susceptible to fast wearing thus requiring replacement of the entire shutoff valve.
Replacing a water meter or shutoff valve requires a great deal of care and delicacy. The connecting pipes are typically made of copper or other soft metal that are susceptible to bending, breaking, and kinking which cannot be fixed without replacing the pipes. It may also be impossible to remove or tighten connecting threads without adding makeshift braces and levers because the pipes have insufficient stabilizing support to prevent damage from torque, pushing, and pulling during the removal or replacement of the meter or shutoff valve.
To remove or install a water meter or shutoff valve, the standard procedure is to reach into the well holding the meter and add boards for bracing and additional wrenches and screwdrivers as counter-levers to the threads being loosened or tightened. Even for a professional plumber, however, the additional wrenches and screwdrivers often jostle out of place, causing the task to take longer and risking damage to the pipes.
It would be advantageous to develop a meter yoke vise, thereby bracing and stabilizing the plumbing so that the water meter and shutoff valve can be removed or installed with little or no pressure or torque on the connecting pipes.
The problem of holding surrounding plumbing in place during removal and installation of water meters and shutoff valves is solved by putting in place a meter yoke vise that is designed to take advantage the structure of a water meter and surrounding plumbing, and can be quickly and easily put in place and removed.
In the displayed embodiment, the meter yoke vise comprises: a) a right bracket; b) a left bracket; c) two mechanisms to connect the right and left bracket; c) a wrench; and d) a tension knob that secures the wrench to the brackets.
The distance measurements labeled in some of the figures are simply for the purpose of assisting others in reproducing this particular embodiment and are not meant to limit the scope of applicant's invention.
Various other features, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the following specification.